Lesson 42

The Past Simple with "Was" and "Were"

Level: Pre-Intermediate

Lesson contents:

- Were you good at school?
- The past simple of be
- Past Simple grammar recap
- US grading system
- So + auxiliary verb + subject
for agreeing with someone
(so was he, so were they...)
- I think so, I don't think so
- A "good boy" vs "good academically"
- Vocabulary: Pretty good, hopeless
"so-so", "just" as adjective
- Inflection: WAS I good at school?

Always watch the video without subtitles first in order to train your ears! It's a good idea to watch several times until you feel the "music", before watching the version with subtitles. Your pronunciation will be much better if you follow this rule.

Teachers:

A lot of spontaneous reactions and therefore new vocabulary, helps make this simple question an interesting one. People take their school days seriously in our experience. I was frankly surprised by many relatively emotional reactions.

"So" is used in about 20 different ways, and this lesson illustrates 3 of the most important ones.

One interviewee asked us to be more precise.
The interviewer asks
"Were you good at school?"
and David asks: "What do you mean by "good"? Was I good at the academic side of it, or was I a good boy?", providing us with a common, but interesting distinction.